Ask A Chicago Expert: Best Cocktails To Serve For 4th Of July

Ice is essential to a summer cocktail, but how you work with that ice, and serve those fruity flavors on the Fourth of July depends on a few things. Beverage directors, mixologists and bartenders from around the city offer some of the best of the best summer cocktails to make and serve for your Independence Day barbecue. All of them are sure to make your party even more festive!

The Gold Coast restaurant of Hugo's Frog Bar and Fish House is a seafood haven. With a menu packed with oysters, frog lets, fish, and lobsters, every meal here is perfectly refreshing alongside a cold cocktail. The team shares one of their favorite summer cocktails, and with its red coloring and a dash of blue, it's the perfect Fourth of July drink.

1 1/2 oz Hendrick's Gin
1/2 oz Giffard Crème de Mure
1/4 oz simple syrup
3/4 oz lemon juice

For this cocktail, you'll want to use a cocktail shaker, which helps the drink cool faster—perfect for a Fourth of July drink. In the shaker, combine the gin with the creme de mure and simple syrup. Shake it for three seconds to chill and incorporate. Open the cocktail shaker and add soda water, and then strain into a Collins glass filled with fresh ice. Top off the drink with a festive blackberry and sage leaf.

The contemporary Mexican restaurant in Logan Square first opened its doors in 2015, but the years of experience in the kitchen are immense. Working alongside her husband Chef Bryan Enyart, Chef Jennifer Enyart has worked both with Charlie Trotter and Rick Bayless as a pastry chef, as well as other renowned chefs earlier in her career. Today she crafts traditional Mexican desserts with a modern day twist. As evidenced in this cocktail recipe, she also knows a thing or two about crafting a delicious cocktail. With ingredients like hibiscus and lime, it's also the perfect combination for a hot summer 4th of July day!

• 2 oz Arette Blanco
• 1 oz lime juice
• 1 oz hibiscus
• 1 oz pineapple shrub

In a Collins glass, combine the above ingredients, add 4 mint leaves torn in half, a lime wheel, and a chunk of pineapple and top with ice. Stir 4 times to combine.

With an extensive background in bartending and working as a beverage manager, Drankiewicz runs the bar program at the Tack Room, which is a cocktail-focused concept and piano salon in Thalia Hall. He's also the co-author of Cocktails for Ding Dongs, a satirical comic book that simplifies the over-complicated craft cocktail. The award nominated bartender also co-launched another drink-forward endeavor called Moneygun, located in the Fulton Market neighborhood. With his innovative Southern Swizzle cocktail, he shares how to make a cocktail with crushed ice in a creative and fun way.

Southern Swizzle

• 1oz rum
• 3/4oz Campari
• 3/4oz Luxardo Apricot
• 1/2oz Lemon juice
• Top w/CO2
• Pinch of sea salt and lemon wheel to garnish

Start by adding all your ingredients to a tall Collins glass. Then, to the glass, add some crushed ice and swizzle stick (or ridged spoon) and spin the stick between the palms of your hands back and forth until the cocktail glass starts to get frosty. This also helps ensure the cocktail is properly diluted! Finish the cocktail by topping it with some more ice, and then adding a lemon wheel and a pinch of sea salt on top for garnish.

Related: Best Bars In Chicago That Opened In 2015

In addition to Tack Room, Drankiewicz is a part of the innovative cocktail concept known as Moneygun in the Fulton Market district in the West Loop. While he says a pina colada is great year round, Moneygun does this classic tropifcal drink a bit differently. He suggests a "stinky" island rum and coconut rum, and subbing out pineapple juice for a gomme syrup, which adds to a velvety texture to the cocktail.

• 1 oz Shipwreck coconut
• 1 oz Ed Hamilton Gold Cask
• 1 1/2 oz pineapple Gomme*
• 1 oz cream
• Grated nutmeg, pineapple triangle, and cherry garnish

To make this pina colada, add all your ingredients to the blender with a scoop full of ice and blend until smooth.  Pour the drink into a tall fancy glass, grate some nutmeg on top and add your garnish.

*Wondering how to make Gomme? In a pot combine 2 cups pineapple juice, 1.5 cups sugar, and 1 gum arabic blooming sheet. Cook over low heat until the sugar and blooming sheets have dissolved. Let cool to room temp before serving.

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www.theberkshireroom.com

With a long-time passion for bartending, Hetter started his career in Chicago at Balena. In 2014 he joined the Fifty/50 Group and the Berkshire Room, and today he has helped turned the Berkshire room into a wonderful cocktail lounge. For this Fourth of July cocktail, Hetter wanted to use ingredients that are easy to transport and bring to a barbecue, as well as easy to measure. The result? A delicious concotion.

• 2 oz Blanco tequila or Mezcal
• Equal parts lager, and
• Equal parts grapefruit soda
• Pinch of sea salt
• Grapefruit zest, optional

Hetter's Rad-loma is a hybrid of two classic summer drinks: A Radler and a Paloma. Not only is it refreshing, but it's also super simple to make and even tastes great out of a plastic cup! To make it, fill your cup with ice, and add the tequila or mezcal. Top that with equal parts lager and grapefruit soda, and finish the drink with a pinch of sea salt. "If you're feeling fancy, a swath of grapefruit zest really make the drink pop."

Related: Best Places In America To Celebrate The 4th Of July